The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Heliotrope plant botanically known as Heliotropium arborescens and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balhelbabim’.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled environment during October 2000 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Heliotrope cultivars with a compact and upright growth habit and freely branching character.
The new cultivar is the result of self-pollination, of the cultivar ‘Mini Marine’, not patented, characterized by purple-colored flowers, upright growth habit, and medium-green-colored foliage. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated open-pollination during January 2001 in a controlled environment at Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since 2001 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill., has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.